The ‘Washing’ Business

Impact has adopted the business of washing – a word we apply in several meaningful ways. Our showers see constant use by many who spend their days outside underneath the hot and sweaty Houston sun. In addition, this month and during the summer our showers will also see increased usage by more than 40 College and High School Mission Groups coming to serve alongside us and staying in our buildings.

Our two washing machines turn an abundance of linens. From shower and kitchen towels to full loads of personal clothing, they often witness more linens than a laundromat! Washing so many loads of laundry takes a great toll on our machines, a toll that was realized this last week when one of them finally bit the dust. The Harding University Spring Break Group served alongside our church recently in many amazing ways. They also recognized our need for a new washing machine. It just so happened that they had raised more funds for their mission trip than they used, and had been looking for a way to use the leftover funds to lighten our load. With tears in their eyes at the recognition of how a new washing machine would bless the lives of so many, they handed us the funds for a new washing machine, funds that so easily could have been used by struggling college students for other things. I am of the opinion that a coincidence like this is no coincidence at all, but God working in our world in his mysterious ways.

You see, I believe God is in the business of washing also. I believe he is at work in the shower and washing machine ministry at Impact. Much more importantly, I believe he is also in the business of washing away a stain that no amount of soap and scrubbing could ever clean- the stain of sin. Sin is at work in this world, a world it holds in slavery. But through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the shackles and stain of sin can be washed away. It is this washing, more so than any other, that holds great importance for Impact. There is nothing special about the waters of our baptismal pool. It comes from the same place from which the shower and washing machine water come. The stains that have been and will be washed away in that tub (through the blood shed by Jesus so many years ago) far surpass any other washing that happens in this place.

Thank you, God, for being at work through the people in this place. May we always be in the business of “washing.”